Chapter Text
Once again, she was spending the night in the birdcage.
Kris was long gone, and they didn't even have the decency to close the window behind them. It was almost like they wanted her to catch a cold!
Ha. Now that was a fun thought. That she might be real enough to catch a cold.
She stretched, and laid down on her back, getting as comfortable as one reasonably could in a rusty old birdcage. Getting torn out of Kris' body and thrown around like a ragdoll was never pleasant per se, but she was at least fond of the form she took when separated. A miniature, feminine form, with long pointed ears and a pair of luminous red butterfly wings. She'd never seen her own face, but she liked to think it was as cute as the rest of her fairy-like self. Of course, to anyone else, she looked like a floating heart. The glow of her wings was so bright and her body was so small that, to someone closer to Kris' size, the scarlet light drowned out everything else.
She sighed, kicking her legs up and resting her feet against the bars of her cage. She didn't hate Kris for how they treated her, but it still hurt. She cared so much about them, not just Kris, but all four of the kids she had helped guide through the Dark Worlds. But Kris almost certainly hated her, and they certainly certainly weren't going to let any of their friends see her outside of Kris' body.
She so badly wished she could tell Kris how much she wanted to help them, or how much she regretted the situation she and they had been thrown into. She wanted to say, I might not know everything that's going on, but I trust you to do what you think is right, and I want to make sure you're alive and happy when all this is over. And yes, she wanted to complain with them about the racket Toriel and Sans were making before Susie got them to quiet down. But she couldn't. She didn't have a voice, she could only take the voices of others. And when she was controlling Kris' body, they either couldn't hear her or just didn't listen.
It was like there was a wall between her and everything that was supposed to exist in this world. The sad, painful truth was that she was an outsider, maybe even an invader. No matter how much she loved them, she could never be part of the same world as the ones she desperately wanted to call her friends.
Maybe it was better this way. To be treated roughly and locked up when she wasn't needed. If she was fated to be banished, wouldn't it be better if no one had to miss her..?
She hovered off the ground and flipped herself upright. No way! she would've said if she had a voice. I'm as much of a person as anyone else, I deserve better than this!
She had never tried to break out of the birdcage before, but this time was different. This time, she didn't need to worry about waking Kris up. She fluttered to one end of the cage, and then threw herself into the opposite side with all her strength!!
Pain flashed through her arm and she instantly dropped to the floor and onto her knees, gripping her shoulder where it struck the cold metal of the cage. She would be hissing and groaning if she could do such a thing. It wasn't as bad as the hockey puck, but her whole body was basically a giant nerve ending so any pain hurt like hell. The all-powerful Angel, ladies and germs.
She stayed laying on the ground after the pain subsided. It was easier to plot when she didn't have to worry about staying balanced on her legs or beating her wings at the right pace. Brute force was clearly a bust, so she'd need to be a bit more clever.
It was at that moment she remembered that she had thumbs.
She marched up to the door to the birdcage, and tried to grab the latch through the bars. If she could just… get the right… leverage…
Click! Creeaak…
Oh, how she wanted to laugh. Ha ha! Take that, you dumb birdcage! No stopping me now! She fluttered out into the loving embrace of freedom with a huge grin on her face.
She landed on the window sill, and sat down with her legs dangling over the side. She closed her eyes, taking in the feeling of the wind running through her hair and wings. It struck her that she'd never been outside without Kris, and that realization bothered her.
You'd think after her last adventure, she'd have it drilled into her skull what a precious thing sunlight was.
She sighed, and rested her chin in her hands. She'd known for a while that she was a transient thing, one who lingered in any given world only as long as she was needed to be a guide, but the Underground made her realize just how lonely such an existence was. Even now, after growing even more attached to this world than she could've imagined possible, she caught herself wondering from time to time how everyone from that world was doing. If they were okay. If they were happy.
If anyone noticed that she was gone. If anyone but a certain flower knew she was even there to begin with.
She would've sighed dramatically as she flopped over onto her side, tracing a line on the house's exterior with her finger. There were better things she should be doing with her newfound freedom. In particular, planning what to even do with it. If she could get to Castle Town, maybe Ralsei could help her? But the school was practically on the other end of town, the odds of getting all the way there without someone spotting her were slim at best. Plus, it was one of, like, three spots she figured could be where Kris went after they jumped out the window, and if Kris found her outside her cage…
Well. They had made it pretty clear what they thought about her doing her own thing.
Still, she couldn't think of anything better. She had no clue where Susie lived. Noelle's house was absolutely off the table, because getting caught by Carol was the only outcome worse than getting caught by Kris. Sure, she could try again as many times as it took, but her last checkpoint was before…
…all that.
Besides, she'd rather not have to slam her head into every possible wall to find the best path forward. And she seriously did not want to find out how much meddling with the timeline it would take for someone in this world to start catching on.
Castle Town it was, then. She stood up and took a deep breath (which was completely unnecessary since she didn't have lungs, but it helped her stay grounded), and poked her head out the window. The rain was already letting up, and there wasn't any movement she could see on the road below. If she was going to make a break for it, a better chance would never come.
She gave one last look back inside, lingering on her cage. She gave a little wave, and would've quietly said See you later, if she could. And then, she jumped off the window sill, and let her scarlet wings carry her away.